The Strange Adventures of Captain Dangerous, Vol. 1: Who was a sailor, a soldier, a merchant, a spy, a slave; among the moors...Sala, George Augustus
General
The Strange Adventures of Captain Dangerous, Vol. 1: Who was a sailor, a soldier, a merchant, a spy, a slave; among the moors...
Sala, George Augustus
Adventure and adventurers -- Fiction
He would rise at six of the clock both in winter and summer, and apply
himself with great ardour to his private devotions and to good studies
until eight, when his breakfast, a tankard of furmety and a small
measure of wine, was brought him. And from nine until noon he would
again be at his studies, and then have dinner of such meats as were in
season. From one to three he was privileged to walk either on the narrow
strip of masonry that encompassed his prison-house, and with a soldier
with his firelock on hip following his every step, or else to wander up
and down in the various chambers of the Castle, still followed by a
guard. Now he would tarry awhile in the guard-room, and stand over
against the soldier's table, his head resting very sadly against the
chimney, and listen to their wild talk, which was, however, somewhat
hushed and shaped to decency so long as he abided there. And anon he
would come into the Governor's apartment, and hold Colonel Glover for
some moments in grave discourse on matters of history, and the lives of
Worthy Captains, and sometimes upon points and passages of Scripture,
but never upon anything that concerned the present day. For, beyond the
bounds of the place in which he was immured, what should he know of
things of instant moment, or of the way the world was wagging? By
permission, the Colonel had told him that Oliver was no more, and that
Richard, his son, was made Protector in his stead. Then, at the close of
that weak and vain shadow of a Reign, and after the politic act of my
Lord Duke of Albemarle (Gen. Monk), who made his own and the country's
fortune, and Nan Clarges'[I] to boot, at one stroke, the Prisoner was
given to know that schism was at an end, and that the King had come to
his own again. Colonel Glover must needs tell him; for he was bidden to
fire a salvo from the five pieces of artillery he had mounted, three on
his outer wall, and two at the top of his donjon-keep, to say nothing of
hoisting the Royal Standard, which now streamed from the pole where erst
had floated the rag that bore the arms of the Commonwealth of
England.[J]
"I am glad," the Prisoner said, when they told him. "I hope this young
man will make England happier than did his father before him." But this
was after he was in hopes of getting some company in his solitude, and
when he was cheerfuller.
It was about midway in his imprisonment when another Captive was brought
to the King's Castle; but it was not until close upon the Restoration of
King Charles II. that the two prisoners were permitted to come together.
The second guest in this most dolorous place was a Woman, and that Woman
was my Grandmother, Arabella Greenville.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account